Entered: 09/01/2011
Status: Adopted
Age: 10
Color: Liver/White
Weight:
Gender: Altered Male
Location: Cherry Hill, NJ
Health: UTD, HW-, treatment for ear, eye, and skin infections complete
Temperament: Good with people of all ages, good with other dogs, unknown with cats
Original:
Sweet Wally is a testament to the resilience and good nature of the Springer breed! After four years of gross neglect, Wally has begun a new life with MAESSR’s help. He is as good natured and loving as if his unpleasant past has been erased.
Animal control officers seized Wally from a home in New Jersey where he had been living in a garage for the past four years, never seeing the light of day. The adult sons of his very elderly owner had moved in with her and relegated Wally to the garage since they did not like him. They fed him, but never cleaned the garage or allowed him outside.
Forced to live in this filthy garage, Wally was in very poor condition when the animal control officers seized him. He was covered in feces with his coat badly was matted, and his eyes and ears badly infected. When taken to the animal shelter, staff members considered ending his suffering, but instead they reached out to MAESSR. With our instant confirmation that we would help, they changed direction and instead of sending him off to the bridge, they gave him a bath, shaved his heavily matted coat, cleaned his ears, cleaned his eyes, cleaned the sores all over him, and neutered him. Then, he was off to his MAESSR foster home for recuperation.
Wally was very fearful upon coming into his foster home. He “talked” a lot by grumbling as a defense mechanism. He actually grumbled mostly when he was urinating or defecating. The only thing his foster family can think is that he was abused for doing this in the past, possibly in the house or in the garage – of course, he didn’t really have a choice. Within a couple of days of being in his foster home and getting positive reinforcement for going potty outside, Wally’s grumbling stopped completely and his happy nature was all that was left.
Although initially having trouble with the stairs coming into his foster home, Wally was soon bounding into the house with joy after every trip outside hoping for a “cookie.” He takes treats very nicely even amidst the excitement of the younger resident dogs bouncing around. Wally took all of this in stride. On a recent trip to the Springer Spaniel National Specialty, Wally met lots of people and dogs of all ages and did great with everyone. In fact, every person that bent down to say “hi” was graced with a Wally kiss!
Wally does not guard food or toys and is a happy and willing companion. He walks nicely on leash too, except when there are cars around; then, he likes to pull toward the car hoping for a ride. Parking lots can be a bit of a challenge because of this!
Health issues are dissipating. Wally has finished his first round of antibiotics and has been started on an anti-fungal medicine to round out his treatment for the horrible yeast infection that covered his body. After several baths and a nice grooming, he is looking fantastic and feeling better, too! Wally was very good for his grooming though wiggly especially when his back feet are touched – he must be ticklish!
Soon, Wally will be ready to find his own forever home! People have been inquiring about him due to his feature story on the Home page, so Wally will get that perfect forever home in no time!